2012 British Grand Prix

Fernando Alonso avoided using soft tyres until the end of the race in the hope that rain would arrive. It didn’t – and the gamble failed.

British Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Use the control below to show/hide different drivers:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2012drivercolours.csv

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

Fernando Alonso

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

2

2

2

2

Mark Webber

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

4

4

3

3

3

3

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

4

3

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

Michael Schumacher

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

4

5

3

13

11

10

9

6

6

6

6

6

5

5

7

7

8

7

7

6

6

6

6

6

6

11

10

10

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

7

7

7

7

7

7

Sebastian Vettel

4

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

3

15

12

11

8

7

6

4

4

4

4

4

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

5

5

5

4

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

Felipe Massa

5

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

5

3

4

3

10

9

8

5

5

5

5

5

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

3

3

2

2

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

Kimi Raikkonen

6

7

7

7

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

5

4

13

11

11

7

7

7

7

7

6

6

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

4

4

3

7

6

6

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

Pastor Maldonado

7

6

6

6

7

7

7

7

7

7

7

4

21

21

21

21

21

20

20

20

19

19

19

19

18

17

17

17

17

17

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

Lewis Hamilton

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

6

5

3

2

1

1

1

2

2

2

7

7

6

6

6

6

6

12

11

10

9

9

9

9

8

8

7

7

7

7

7

7

7

7

7

8

8

8

8

8

8

Romain Grosjean

9

12

11

22

22

22

21

20

19

18

18

17

15

15

15

13

12

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

7

13

13

13

12

11

10

10

10

8

7

7

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

Paul di Resta

10

23

Nico Rosberg

11

15

15

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

13

11

10

9

6

14

12

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

12

12

11

13

12

11

11

11

10

9

9

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

Daniel Ricciardo

12

17

17

16

16

16

16

16

15

15

15

14

13

12

12

12

10

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

15

15

15

14

14

14

15

15

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

14

13

13

13

Bruno Senna

13

9

9

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

9

7

8

6

14

13

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

10

10

9

9

14

13

12

12

12

12

12

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

9

9

Nico Hulkenberg

14

11

12

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

10

9

7

5

5

5

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

10

9

9

8

8

8

8

8

8

6

11

11

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

12

12

Sergio Perez

15

10

10

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

7

Jenson Button

16

13

14

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

12

10

9

7

8

7

13

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

11

11

10

10

9

14

13

13

13

13

13

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

11

10

10

Kamui Kobayashi

17

14

13

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

11

8

6

4

3

3

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

9

8

8

7

7

7

7

7

7

5

5

5

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

12

11

11

Vitaly Petrov

18

Heikki Kovalainen

19

21

19

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

18

16

18

17

17

17

17

17

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

16

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

17

Timo Glock

20

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

19

19

19

17

16

16

16

16

16

16

18

18

18

18

18

17

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

18

Pedro de la Rosa

21

19

20

19

19

19

19

19

20

20

20

20

18

17

18

18

18

18

18

17

17

17

17

17

19

19

19

19

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

Narain Karthikeyan

22

20

21

20

20

20

20

21

21

21

21

21

19

20

19

19

19

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

21

Jean-Eric Vergne

23

16

16

15

15

15

15

15

16

16

16

16

14

14

14

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

14

13

12

15

15

15

14

14

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

13

14

14

14

Charles Pic

24

22

22

21

21

21

22

22

22

22

22

22

20

19

20

20

20

19

19

19

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

Nico Hulkenberg slipped out of the points on the penultimate lap: “It was a tough race today, especially because my car was set up to favour wet conditions,” he said.

“That helped us yesterday, but hurt my top speed this afternoon. There were always cars around me in the race, especially in the final few laps when I had to defend from Bruno and Jenson, and I could not afford to make any mistakes.

“Unfortunately I locked up the rears going into turn three with two laps to go and that gave Bruno the chance to get ahead of me in the DRS zone.”

British Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap. Use the control below to show/hide different drivers:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/charts/2012drivercolours.csv

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

Fernando Alonso

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1.564

0.915

0.202

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0.898

1.349

2.205

2.533

3.06

Mark Webber

0.604

0.658

0.853

0.825

1.359

1.81

1.903

2.662

3.059

3.149

4.015

4.42

5.073

4.062

22.971

6.631

6.473

5.607

4.756

5.111

5.177

5.064

4.904

4.837

5.479

5.642

6.098

5.86

5.613

5.22

5.467

5.52

3.387

20.731

20.16

19.605

21.145

3.937

4.44

3.958

3.55

3.35

2.225

1.304

0.555

0.401

0.472

0

0

0

0

0

Michael Schumacher

1.197

1.387

2.021

2.572

3.072

4.284

5.366

6.155

7.093

7.964

10.003

8.591

27.212

27.714

29.875

15.17

15.775

15.347

14.83

15.283

15.941

16.286

16.925

19.368

20.545

21.489

22.668

23.358

24.393

25.595

26.737

28.073

30.033

29.933

47.271

46.747

48.208

31.738

32.449

32.425

31.817

31.534

30.313

29.166

28.702

27.954

27.667

27.97

28.82

29.275

29.74

29.153

Sebastian Vettel

2.598

2.494

3.752

3.766

4.565

5.319

6.405

7.334

8.423

6.979

24.658

24.166

24.282

24.5

26.951

11.343

11.016

10.032

8.808

8.696

8.707

8.409

8.349

8.522

8.965

9.335

9.291

9.408

9.724

9.609

7.943

25.31

24.905

25.19

25.064

25.093

27.152

9.751

9.86

9.44

9.386

9.034

8.186

7.301

6.466

5.725

5.171

5.204

5.478

5.353

5.717

4.836

Felipe Massa

1.751

1.699

3.337

3.145

3.612

4.644

5.816

6.508

7.506

8.325

9.333

9.674

8.248

26.11

27.912

13.005

12.886

11.841

10.678

10.911

10.964

10.925

10.964

11.015

11.947

12.37

12.187

12.003

12.04

12.159

12.752

13.369

14.195

15.096

13.526

30.463

31.694

14.074

13.944

13.623

12.889

12.395

11.96

10.773

9.928

9.328

8.565

8.692

8.869

8.68

9.814

9.519

Kimi Raikkonen

3.728

3.938

4.452

5.141

5.669

6.07

6.986

7.928

8.954

9.743

10.664

11.805

10.435

29.021

31.707

16.538

16.503

16.079

15.483

16.117

16.823

17.155

17.412

17.066

17.534

17.909

17.449

16.805

16.212

16.733

17.493

17.856

17.977

16.457

34.623

34.008

35.882

18.637

18.814

18.1

17.301

16.535

15.077

13.733

12.508

11.193

10.374

10.266

10.06

9.491

10.348

10.314

Pastor Maldonado

3.181

3.323

4.14

5.781

6.628

7.189

7.598

8.48

9.546

10.651

9.539

67.932

93.047

92.461

94.003

78.591

79.007

78.578

78.249

79.513

80.152

80.518

81.377

83.443

85.974

86.978

87.642

87.93

88.611

89.652

90.371

91.495

92.737

93.668

94.597

98.708

101.9

86.597

88.909

90.564

92.357

94.889

100.477

102.437

106.889

110.597

114.305

117.691

122.075

127.745

133.659

Lewis Hamilton

4.64

5.192

5.455

6.284

7.33

8.157

8.749

9.335

10.132

11.168

12.299

12.734

13.54

13.737

15.366

0

0

0

1.251

2.306

1.148

17.549

17.892

18.364

19.206

19.764

20.297

18.236

36

36.248

37.523

38.49

39.011

39.83

40.919

41.408

43.841

27.379

28.216

28.473

28.565

29.021

28.678

28.06

27.92

27.432

28.994

30.164

32.021

33.384

34.777

36.463

Romain Grosjean

7.405

7.455

32.396

31.671

31.81

33.246

33.979

33.434

34.29

33.853

34.961

35.053

34.976

34.592

36.094

20.894

20.877

20.105

19.398

19.8

20.248

20.575

20.928

21.464

22.437

21.057

37.83

36.771

36.707

36.916

38.166

39.26

39.619

40.401

39.831

39.217

40.415

22.762

22.441

21.639

20.61

20.12

18.926

17.671

16.915

15.916

15.338

15.751

16.072

15.726

15.572

17.101

Paul di Resta

53.136

Nico Rosberg

8.435

11.195

12.411

13.238

14.919

16.236

17.153

18.262

19.559

20.496

21.814

22.808

23.907

25.634

26.728

29.142

29.898

30.257

29.89

30.763

31.254

31.498

32.04

32.345

33.207

33.82

34.139

34.692

35.414

37.542

39.493

40.348

41.091

41.843

42.839

43.733

44.64

54.214

54.255

54.523

54.222

54.596

54.134

53.795

53.744

53.487

53.711

54.258

55.074

55.751

56.89

57.394

Daniel Ricciardo

9.17

12.316

13.542

14.714

16.291

18.036

19.827

21.462

22.31

22.986

23.922

25.773

26.865

28.768

32.763

16.49

34.891

34.085

33.191

33.85

34.407

34.919

36.026

36.932

38.358

39.275

40.313

40.931

39.752

58.887

59.756

60.553

61.222

61.947

62.393

64.396

66.96

52.169

53.14

53.415

53.315

53.371

52.821

52.032

51.193

50.374

49.846

50.185

50.699

51.072

51.514

51.241

Bruno Senna

5.6

6.076

7

7.776

9.167

10.202

10.981

11.26

11.766

12.758

13.999

14.469

21.01

22.587

42.282

26.516

27.509

26.735

26.16

26.557

27.136

27.537

27.901

28.779

29.7

30.395

30.916

31.28

31.915

31.056

49.826

49.824

49.514

49.751

50.578

51.671

53.034

36.121

36.777

37.154

37.399

38.194

38.305

38.46

38.48

38.328

38.401

38.839

40.268

41.716

43.162

43.347

Nico Hulkenberg

6.81

7.902

8.643

9.611

10.936

12.173

12.845

13.987

14.911

15.807

16.987

19.248

20.723

21.957

24.687

8.015

26.617

25.76

25.102

25.715

26.319

26.715

27.014

27.433

28.464

29.025

29.217

29.401

29.564

30.091

31.152

32.041

33.188

34.409

33.604

50.74

51.982

35.162

36.134

36.421

36.702

37.651

37.679

37.733

37.825

37.536

37.581

38.266

39.686

41.102

46.381

47.856

Sergio Perez

6.455

6.415

5.94

6.688

7.814

8.692

9.344

9.855

10.515

12.032

11.108

Jenson Button

7.695

10.443

11.45

12.266

13.826

15.047

15.867

17.001

17.933

18.755

19.969

21.039

22.304

23.856

27.461

12.555

30.266

28.965

27.742

28.009

28.24

28.835

29.68

30.388

31.415

32.005

32.565

33.226

34.449

35.977

37.022

53.408

52.975

52.687

52.661

52.616

54.358

37.653

38.206

38.122

37.898

38.68

38.804

38.904

39.147

38.802

38.857

39.553

40.93

42.425

44.136

44.444

Kamui Kobayashi

8.084

9.82

10.558

10.952

12.01

13.008

13.639

14.558

15.703

16.455

17.507

18.364

19.558

20.24

22.24

5.766

24.619

23.521

22.255

22.476

22.472

22.595

23.016

23.078

23.701

24.383

24.814

24.776

26.67

27.115

27.868

28.718

30.197

32.74

32.649

32.695

32.564

46.306

46.017

45.878

45.624

45.67

44.518

43.561

42.815

42.186

41.861

41.914

42.535

43.208

44.783

45.37

Vitaly Petrov

Heikki Kovalainen

11.197

14.039

15.742

18.051

20.496

23.701

25.841

28.15

30.39

32.308

35.506

37.601

57.667

58.702

61.708

47.744

49.351

50.542

51.633

53.786

55.281

57.375

59.741

62.139

64.394

66.509

68.557

70.102

70.035

90.92

92.835

95.323

99.352

102.555

104.843

106.556

109.867

94.88

99.044

102.857

106.792

110.356

113.538

117.063

118.914

120.648

122.714

128.633

132.368

136.262

142.992

Timo Glock

9.966

13.351

17.318

20.048

23.294

26.445

28.869

31.773

35.367

38.418

41.213

45.929

49.089

51.871

56.218

43.799

47.194

47.227

67.111

69.441

72.133

75.378

80.048

83.164

87.448

90.744

93.203

95.73

99.88

103.65

106.903

109.834

114.088

118.266

121.108

124.963

131.087

115.566

137.847

139.649

142.956

145.016

147.595

151.351

153.047

154.269

156.05

158.174

161.124

163.316

167.254

Pedro de la Rosa

10.591

15.042

18.679

22.188

26.252

30.072

33.017

36.592

39.984

43.257

46.728

51.855

55.369

60.696

65.985

54.085

57.643

60.005

62.981

66.901

70.964

74.872

79.658

85.486

91.056

97.572

100.898

125.4

129.664

132.756

138.736

142.289

145.711

151.119

155.008

159.297

166.846

155.133

159.59

163.361

167.071

170.609

173.673

176.5

179.63

183.048

186.721

193.248

200.221

206.484

Narain Karthikeyan

10.902

16.785

20.681

24.478

28.193

32.999

37.24

40.622

44.147

47.349

51.268

55.453

59.803

63.882

69.756

56.087

82.253

85.514

91.835

95.06

99.025

102.034

107.484

111.846

116.554

123.259

126.512

135.044

138.947

143.756

149.734

154.07

157.724

163.746

165.416

189.209

193.742

179.913

183.008

185.029

187.718

189.994

192.099

196.383

199.509

203.658

207.581

210.979

215.929

219.038

Jean-Eric Vergne

8.848

11.827

12.89

13.985

15.789

17.505

19.382

22.331

23.847

25.04

26.823

28.467

30.119

30.499

51.148

35.68

36.199

36.097

36.094

37.443

38.318

39.073

39.898

40.547

41.733

42.603

43.112

43.435

43.938

44.312

45.891

44.818

63.455

63.22

63.114

63.072

65.056

48.591

50.39

50.524

50.313

50.529

50.365

50.028

49.722

49.057

48.825

49.138

49.718

52.091

53

53.313

Charles Pic

11.696

17.309

21.405

24.88

28.831

33.982

37.861

41.327

44.836

48.135

51.785

56.27

58.273

78.905

82.922

70.211

73.416

75.489

77.602

81.505

84.574

87.364

90.368

93.199

96.709

101.045

104.806

108.782

112.835

116.764

119.971

122.138

143.178

148.283

152.864

155.719

161.211

148.614

154.195

157.221

160.764

164.074

166.479

168.477

170.591

172.401

174.633

177.647

181.19

183.968

187.679

When Hamilton took the lead of the race at the end of his first stint it looked as though he was on course to gain some places. But McLaren seemed to leave him out longer than was reasonable, even as he began to lose time to the cars he was trying to get in front of.

The reason for that became clear in his final stint, which was also on the hard tyres: McLaren simply weren’t making the rubber last as long as their rivals. This serves to reinforce the fact that there is no strategic solution for a car that isn’t quick enough.

This was true to a much lesser extent of Alonso’s pace on the soft compounds. Ferrari realised during the hour of dry practice on Saturday morning their car was less competitive on the yellow tyres.

That led Ferrari to start on the hard tyres in the hope that rain would arrive and keep them from having to use the softs as Alonso explained: “We felt more confident on the hards so it was our preferred choice today

“And then, if at any point of the race it had rained and we put on intermediates you didn?óÔé¼Ôäót have to use the softs any more so it was a better combination of possibilities that the hard gave us today.”

Curiously, Massa did not follow this strategy. Running the soft tyre at the end left Alonso vulnerable to Webber, who initially thought the Ferrari driver was toying with him: “Fernando was not quite out of touch and after the last stop, my engineer Ciaron came on the radio saying that Fernando was not doing much on the [soft] tyres.

“But I know Fernando is a wily old fox, I thought he was looking after the tyres and just waiting to pull the pin and go a little bit. But when I got within two seconds I thought maybe he?óÔé¼Ôäós in a little bit of trouble and it was real.”

Would Alonso have won had he run longer on the hard tyres? He said in the press conference afterwards it might have been a possibility in the first stint.

The race chart above does suggest he could have stayed out a lap or two longer and still come out in front of Webber. However it’s possible Ferrari did not anticipate Webber would emerge from the pits behind Kobayashi when they committed to Alonso’s first stop.

10 comments on 2012 British Grand Prix lap chart

Looking at Maldonado’s pace during the last 15 laps or so, I wonder: did he have a problem or so or did he really just gave up? If so, then that would be the first time a driver has ever given up during a GP as far as I know.

Very good point. I guess they were trying to win back the time from his extra pit stop, but it was clearly not working, and they should have put him on new tyres to at least enable him to do some good laps.

Actually, other drivers have given up, and in a much more dramatic fashion. In the 1999 Japanese GP, Damon Hill came into the pits with a perfectly undamaged car, then got out, saying that he was so far down that there was no point in carrying on, as he was so far down the order.

When Hamilton took the lead of the race at the end of his first stint it looked as though he was on course to gain some places. But McLaren seemed to leave him out longer than was reasonable, even as he began to lose time to the cars he was trying to get in front of.

The reason for that became clear in his final stint, which was also on the hard tyres: McLaren simply werenâ€™t making the rubber last as long as their rivals. This serves to reinforce the fact that there is no strategic solution for a car that isnâ€™t quick enough.

@keithcollantine, I agree with the final sentence, but I’m not sure tyre wear was the problem in the first stint. He lost a bit of time battling Alonso, but the lap after Alonso had passed him was not all that bad. In general, I like the idea of going a bit deeper into a stint and coming back at the others with fresher tyres at the end, though doing a 7-lap stint on the softs didn’t help Hamilton, especially since covering Grosjean proved futile. Why Hamilton had no pace in the final stint I guess I will never know, as I’m not expecting a phone call from Woking to discuss strategy with them.

Its really amazing to see how Grosjean got back to the front after the collision with DiResta. And its interesting when you compare how Maldonado couldn’t get anywhere after dropping back because of hitting Perez.

It was because Perez and Maldonado were on the out-lap(he had to make an extra pit stop or stay out long with the same tires – which was a bad decision). But Grosjean just made his pit stop 10 laps earlier than others, he didn’t lose nothing special with that(soft tires were anyway as bad as they were).

I dont know i you will come back to read this comments, but boy-o-boy, some intelligent gray cells at last, among the comments.

such a simple logic, aint it? First pit stops were an average of 12-13th lap …. soft tyres were worse than the harder ones, Raikkonen was held up initially …. Perez/Maldonado did not finish ….. Schumy and Hammy had un-competetive tyre wear and actually fell backwards…..Lotus have always been strong on tyre wear….All top 10 cars except the Lotuses actually fell backwards as the race progressed in bigger proportions than Grosjean moving forward…..if anything, in the last few laps he lost many seconds to Raikkonen, who set the fastest lap of the race, and Raikkonen could have easily stretched that advantange to at least 12-15 secs if only there were few more laps, or if only Grotus had called him in much earlier.

Yes, Grosjean did drive a good race at the end, but no more than Raikkonen, and no better than Webber or Alonso, and frankly not in any way more talented than schumy or hammy. As usual, it was the Pirelli tyres that had the final say.

……Reminds me of Tokyo traffic, the early car need not reach the office the fastest, the traffic signals actually decide who reaches first!!!